Something something excuse, something something update

Right, so the whole one review a week things is ridiculous, can't do it. It means finishing a review a week, which makes me rush through series, which colors my opinion somewhat. I'll shoot for two weeks, but I'm doing ACT prep all this month so who knows.

Also, why do I keep getting massive influxes of Russian viewers? Is someone teaching a class over there labeled 'how not to do a blog?' 

Is Subaru wor—I mean Is Houkago no Pleiades Worth Watching?

Product placement and subtlety get along like Tibetan Maque in a Spain shop or however than goes. Personally, therefore, I feel that if, for example, Gainax made a deal with the Subaru to make a magical girl anime where the main character is literally named Subaru, the girls fly on broom like 'drive shafts' complete with Subaru hood ornaments, grilles, and engine noises, and the title of the anime is either Wish Upon the Subaru or Afterschool Subaru—at least I can say they're being upfront about it.

Subaru is a young girl whom, after stumbling into an extra-dimensional club room and subsequently, an extra dimensional botanical garden, becomes part of an effort to gather engine fragments to restore a space octopus' ship while foiling a mysterious young boy from the same fragments for some unknown reason. So in all honesty not only did massive amounts of product placement fail to hinder my experience—it enhanced it.

Houkago no Pleiades feels less like a car ad that Gainax wrote a script around and more like an idea that Gainax tailored to fit a car ad. See if there was one thing that surprised me coming out of this it was that this show was good. The characters fit into familiar archetypes without feeling like cut and paste jobs, they aren't defined by singular character traits and development occurs internally rather than as a result of an external force. As a result any character development feels natural, not forced down our throats. No characters change fundamentally, but important internal conflicts are resolved as the plot progresses. 

While the blend of CG and 2-D artwork can be jarring (especially earlier on, where there are a lot more closeups of characters in their CG form), in general the animation looks stellar and plays well with the over-the-top style Gainax is going for. Make no mistake, while the plot may seem simple on paper (and to an extent is in practice) the anime really builds to a satisfying climax. I don't wish to say more because to over-hype leads to insurmountable expectations, which always ruins a series for me. 

The other thing I found refreshing about the series was a lack of fight scenes. There is action, but it's kind of more like watching that one game with the flying balls from Harry Potter (except a hundred times larger in scale) than a traditional fight scene. It's more like a series of races; where the opponent takes the form of the aforementioned mysterious boy and some natural obstacle. It allows the anime to succeed at keeping a lighthearted tone throughout the series without ever breaking immersion. 

Lastly the characters are all well acted, despite having little to no star power present. The soundtrack, while not having that one track, managed to keep me engaged, and after listening to it a bit more I'd be lying if I said it wasn't damn good. 

So is Houkago no Pleiades worth watching? Yeah I'd say so. If you've made it all the way through this, I doubt you can be as pleasantly surprised as I was, but I do think that it does enough to separate it from the crowd and make for one hell of a ride—pun intended. 

Thanks for reading, favorite, share, I'll be you best friend, g'night.

You should read Double Arts!

Not gonna lie, I'm really only doing this because I don't have an anime to review this week. Houkago no Pleiades was supposed to be my Friday night, but then I fell asleep and the cycle repeated itself with Saturday. Right now I'm about twenty minutes—my being awake fueled only by a pint of coffee and Six Times The Passion Of An Ordinary Flamenco. Though I am serious when I say you should read Double Arts.

Written by Naoshi Komi, or the guy who does Nisekoi, Double Arts ran for around 25 chapters before ending prematurely presumably due to lack of sales. The series is premised on a land where an unknown disease is running rampant. People called sisters are able to absorb the disease for a limited time at the cost of running down their lives. After a healing, a sister named Elle is about to succumb to the infection when a young man grabs her hand, halting her death. From there, the manga takes on a swashbuckling adventure tone, as the two try to make their way to church headquarters. In order to overcome the ridiculously overpowered enemy that i coming after them, the two will have to learn how to fight while staying in contact constantly.

I'd love to go further, but to emphasize how last-minute this was: I read this manga like two years ago. It is really good though, with some good world building, an intriguing premise and heaps of unrealized potential. Maybe after Komi's done with Nisekoi he'll come back to this, but if wishes were horses the second season of Zvezda would've been announced by now.

The Problem I have with Daybreak Illusion (or is Daybreak Illusion worth watching)

The problem I have with Daybreak Illusion (or its infinity harder to remember title—il sole penetra le illusioni) is that the best thing I can say about it is simultaneously the worst thing I can say about it: it's okay. There's no iceberg ready to drag it to its watery grave, but then there's nothing to elevate it to be a titanic title in the first place.

Daybreak Illusion starts out by introducing us to our main character Akari, whom works as a tarot card fortune teller. Not wishing to spoil, Akari is thrust into a battle between the forces of the Tarot Card association and the Daemonia; the former being a magical girl organization and the latter being a group of humans-turned demons through trickery and deceit. From there she is paired up with an ice-wielding stoic, a genki-girl magical girl whom wields money as a weapon and kenomimi who can manipulate plants.

While the premise is standard at best and generic at worst, effort it put into trying to create a world that isn't as black and white as it seems on paper. The unfortunate part is that it fails. The problem is that there is no moral dilemma where the anime wants you to think there is. Regardless of the situations that drove humans into becoming Daemonia, they have no control of their actions anymore and are, in effect, the same as rabid dogs.

The characters likewise feel so very samey. We have the stoic girl who has a dark past and eventually opens up the main character. We have the kenomimi whose sole character trait is that she loves the main character and is jealous, but won't speak up about it. Then there's the genki girl—an archetype I still haven't gotten tired of. Finally Akari, who is a mary-sue, but not so much that she's fun. Tatsuya Shiba, for me, was a fun Mary Sue because there was nothing that even came close to being a credible threat to him. The anime was less creating situations where he was in real trouble but would prevail through sheer deus ex machina, and more creating situations to convince us as the audience that he was in danger when he was nothing of the sort.

Akari: saves all her friends, earns their undying respect, gains massive inexplicable power-ups, is unconditionally loved by everyone but one or two, and has boundless generosity. She feels like one of those blank slates that the audience can project themselves onto, but the dark nature of the show really prevents me from doing that.

The plot is alright. It's fairly straightforward and the twists are either weak or predictable. Half of the series is spent doing monster of the week, mini character arcs. The rest I won't spoil for those interested, but suffice it to say it's nothing new.

The two things the show does well are the soundtrack, courtesy of Tatsuya Kato (Mirai Nikki, Free!, Shokugeki no Soma) and the animation.  The soundtrack does well to provide a dramatic flair to the fights and the animation has a surprising amount of frames and color. The problem is that neither of the two these are so good that I could recommend watching it for them alone. Kato's soundtrack here is great, but it's been better and the animation, while stylized, isn't near the quality of other grade A studios. 

Is Daybreak Illusion worth watching? I don't know. It depends on how okay you are with watching archetypes you've seen before perform similar roles. Like I said it does nothing wrong, but it doesn't do much right either. 

Thanks for reading, sorry for the delay last week. For some reason I had a serious case of writer's block when it came to this particular anime, but with any luck I'll be back on track next week. 

Dealy^2

Not that you didn't see this coming. I'm going to delay this review until next weekend, because otherwise I'm going to be publishing an underdeveloped review that would really just waste a reader's time. Please forgive me.

Jyu-Oh-Sei and Potential

 Jyu-Oh-Sei is a mess. I've been sitting here trying to think of a catchy hook, but an hour's lollygagging and a pot of a coffee have net me that monolith of a statement. That's what it is though...boom.

Adapted from the 1993 anime of the same name Jyu-Oh-Sei, follows twin brothers, Thor and the other one, who are jettisoned to a prison planet called Chimaera after their parents are killed by the government. Filled to the brim with all sorts of flora and fauna united under the banner of human devouring horrors. Thor must figure out a way to rise to the top of the gladiatorial society and become the Beast King. Only then will Thor gain answers, closure and vengeance.

This anime is all about the peaks and troughs. At its highest, Jyu-Oh-Sei is utterly captivating; BONES quality animation and choreography gives way to action scenes that are made all the better when coupled with a fantastic soundtrack from Hajime Mizoguchi (Vision of Escaflowne, Jin-Roh) and meaningful stakes. Throughout the first half of the series, effort is put into making the world feel alive and dangerous—a kind of back to roots world where humanity doesn't toss wine at the masses from the top of the food chain. This is emphasized by a main character who feels genuinely helpless.

Thor doesn't feel so much like someone who shapes the world around him as he does someone caught in the current of something much greater. For some he matters as much as a grain of sand, and is treated as such, for others he represents a pawn used for some grand ambition, and still others genuinely care about him with an ulterior motive. Even with all his ambitions, Thor is constantly barely eking out victories without some assistance.

All of this meshes together to create a cohesive package that acts as the perfect setup to a grand sci-fi adventure. One filled with warring factions, political intrigue and the gradual acclimation of power...but then it kinda stops. One time-skip later and everything's gone sour.

Thor is suddenly calm, collected, has become an accomplished swordsman,  and used his education to improve the quality of life in his clan drastically. All of this he did off-screen. Thus instead of seeing a young brash ambitious Thor turn into this calm stoic badass, we get the beginnings of that before being spring-boarded into a completely different character. The new Thor looks and sounds to be in his twenties (although officially sixteen) and is perfectly equipped to handle any situation with nary a trace of fear or panic.

                                  Damn good OST though.
It's not just Thor that gets shafted, the plot suddenly takes a dive into the romantic as we are introduced to a character I can only describe as the love vertex. After three episodes of characterization, here's what I got; she likes Thor and Zagi and wants to have her own reverse harem. Of course Thor falls in love with her at first sight and of course she really only exists to create the story more tragic. The anime then makes a suicidal charge back to the plot as though it were Gallipoli. The final two episodes create more questions than they answer and provide a kill 'em all ending without the development to make me care all that much.

Jyu-Oh-Sei is one of those anime/manga that would've benefited from a longer run-time. If the time-skip had been filled and some of the ending re-worked we could've had a hell of a story. As it stands Jyu-Oh-Sei is a story with great potential, but which ultimately never lives up to it.

Thanks for reading, would love a like, favorite etc. Goodnight.

Is Bokurano Worth Watching/Reading?

Bokurano:Ours really is a 'the manga is better' snob's wet dream; not in the least because the director dislikes the series himself. We're talking rewritten characters, reworked plots, and an ending leaves me about one dead character short of satisfaction. Complete with a tone that is 4kids level of lighter and you have quite the conundrum. Yet different doesn't necessarily mean bad, and thus the question is posed—is Bokurano worth watching? 

Bokurano is 2003 manga by Mohiro Kitoh which was latter adapted into a 2007 anime with about four out of the total eleven volumes left unpublished. It follows the tale of a group of fifteen teens who after stumbling into a typical Konami workplace, are instructed to sign a contract in order to play a new experimental game. A game where you and your friends pilot a giant robot and fight aliens. 

 
The twist is that if you lose you die in real life...because this is real life. No worries though since a clean victory also nets you a one way trip to the grave. Realistically, you're less a pilot and more a living battery. A loss means that your entire universe goes tumbling down the drain, so at least there's that. Also not getting in the fucking robot isn't an option; either you're teleported back to the machine or you stall for forty-eight hours and the universe still ends. On the bright side, there's no always-on DRM, but day-one dlc is present—so if you end up with a crapshoot giant mech, you only have yourself to blame.

As well as serving as fuel for the Ferrari F12berlinetta of the giant mech world, the characters are what drive the story. Each has their own reasons to fight in the machine; some do it to protect the ones they love, others use it as a tool of revenge and one doesn't do anything at all. What's so refreshing about the approach is that both you and the characters are completely certain of their inevitable fate. Unlike many other dark series, the work is not about trying to survive in a world where the chances of you not dying a grisly death are right up there with hitting it big with Mega Millions and more about confronting certain death.

When I say that the plot is formulaic I want to stress that I don't mean to a attach a negative connotation to the phrase. Like Eva or Raxephon (to a much lesser extent) the anime is a dark twist on the monster-of-the-week style super robot shows of days past. A typical arc usually begins with the death of the previous pilot after which a voice is heard by the next pilot. Most of the remaining time will be spent letting the viewer/reader get acquainted with the pilot, as well as giving us insight into how this person deals with their fate. While not all of the arcs got me totally invested in the pilot, enough did that I would've cried a river if I wasn't so jaded by Ideon. 

So is Bokurano worth reading/watching? Without a doubt. The real question is which one to go with. There are a number of factors, but most of them come from my heavy manga-leaning bias (seriously if you are going with the anime, go back and read ch 46-48 for the best fight in the series) That basically boils down to one question; how dark do you want it? On the scale of things, the anime is more of a light roast moccaccino while the manga is more a black dark roast. Some characters are rewritten to make them more sympathetic or lighten things up a little. While the general consensus is that the manga is better, I will say that the fights in the anime are a sight to behold and personally I found them easier to follow. 

Whatever the case, thanks for reading! Here's your reward.Unlike aforementioned mech, I don't run on your lives, but favorites, likes and follows all help stave off the hunger.

Is Strike the Blood Worth Watching?

 Okay let's not bat around the bush; Strike The Blood is stupid. Better than your average stupid, but stupid nonetheless. Don't come here for any kind of philosophical game of badminton, or to see Akatsuki-kun's journey of self discovery and life-changing epiphanies. It's an action harem in almost every sense of the word. However I think that there are a few key distinctions that set it apart from its counterparts.

Okay, honestly I could not spice the premise up with anything less than a ghost pepper. So anything on my part is going to be a reiteration of the wiki article on the thing...here's the link though...

To start with the show really de-emphasizes the school-life aspect of the main characters lives. Instead the anime creates a series of stories that strike a balance between the more episodic style one commonly finds in western series and the more arc based style that many shonnen are based around. The result is a series that has a feeling more akin to the likes of A Certain Magical Index than to other school-based action harems.

Unlike A Certain Magical Index, though, the anime initially makes us think that, as the Fourth Progenitor (Super-vampire of sorts?), Akatsuki is the vampirical paper-weight that will tip the supernatural scale of power, no-one really gives a shit. Therefore there are a grab bag of different arcs included. These can range from battle with ancient mech spider tanks to time traveling dragons.

Honestly it really is the plot arcs that drive the show, the animation is fine, but never jaw-dropping—likewise for the music. Everything has this really weird multi-colored outline around it during fight scenes, which either adds or detracts from the visuals. Y'know honestly I was leaning more towards this show being worth watching than not, but it really is a bog-standard show. The only thing it really has going for is its plot structure. Even then, something like Raildex does the same, but with better characters and fight sequences. It does have a nice OP though.

                                      
 Is Strike The Blood worth watching? I'm going to leave this on a maybe because it is better than a lot of other action harem shows and its attempt to focus on plot-lines rather than harem hijinks is admirable. Admittedly it does follow the beaten path readily on the fan-service side of things... On the whole there are better ways to spend your time with this. Thanks for reading! Likes, favs and follows are nice. Hope to see you next week! 

Note--Sorry for this not going up on time. I'm away on vacation and thought I had scheduled this to be published automatically last Saturday.   

Is Garo The Animation Worth Watching?

The Animation is a phrase that a would've granted the anime coupled with it a trip to the firing squad, a couple of years ago. Of course that was before Ping Pong: The Animation not only escaped the orbit of the phrase but managed to make Ping Pong the most exciting thing since sliced bread. And that's not nothing. But while the advent of Ping Pong left me in a state of pleasure bordering on orgasmic, it was unable to quell my fears completely. So the question remains; does GARO escape from break free from the toxic grasp of its subtitle or will it pull a colony drop? 

With his mother burned at the stake as he was born and being the heir of a set off golden wolf armor that compels him to hunt monsters that feed on humanity's penchant for greed, a lust for power, and the other kind of lust, Leon would be the ideal poster boy for a hug donation drive. Coupled with a father that feels it his solemn duty to produce an heir to his own magical set of wolf armor, Leon should have more than enough reason to be that angstiest teen to have ever angst. Thankfully Leon substitutes than angst with anger and vengeance, and instantly becomes smoldering stare incarnate. Together with his father and allies he will gain in the future Leon will battle the sinister puppet-master of a totalitarian regime while struggling with his inner turmoil and 90's anime haircut.

GARO is kind of a like a fine wine; one that takes approximately 12 episodes to taste like heaven in a bottle. Pretty much everything is improved by the end; be it characters, pacing, stakes or fight scenes. To put this in perspective—it took me half a season to finish the first twelve episodes and half a day to finish the rest. 

Special attention is given to making Leon the most unlikeable dick in the first half, only so they can make the contrast in his character all the more stark by the end. Even his relation with his father, which seems like a vehicle for some needed comic relief is developed to a point where it felt real. The second half brings in a cast of characters that stay around for more than an episode and are able to be developed to the point where they matter both to the viewer and other characters. Which makes it all the more heartbreaking when they die. 

Animated by MAPPA the anime isn't a bad looker, although opinions may vary as to how well the copious amounts of CGI work during the fight scenes. At worst it's tolerable; at best it's this 

With both openings performed by JAM Project, the anime is no slouch in the sound department either with an OST that does its job well. 

So is GARO worth watching? If you can get through the first cour then definitely. With a great cast of characters, some damn good fights, and a world that grows darker with every passing episode, GARO makes me all the more anxious for second season coming this fall.

So thanks for reading! Likes follows and the likes are appreciated and with about fifteen minutes to midnight I've barely made good on my weekly update thing. Hope to see you again!

Update sorta thing

Hello! So I'm going to try to do something of a reboot of this blog, hopefully making this a weekly thing. Of course, I'm not so productive that I'd hammer out an actual schedule, but I'm hoping to do a review a week. Perhaps some weeks I'll do more discussion like things a la Gundam Seed Destiny and the Military Industrial Complex.  My marathon of Hunter X Hunter has kind of left me with a short stock of anime to review, but expect a review of GARO:Honoo no Kokuin or GARO: The Animation either Saturday or Sunday. Thank you for reading this, and I hope to see you on Saturday or Sunday!

Is Punchline Worth Watching?

24 hours. That is how much time my brain has rolled Punchline around in my thoughts like the world's most engrossing (or insidious) ever-lasting-gob-stopper. AND IT'S NOT OVER. Minutes before writing this I was in the middle of a manime fest which would culminate in the finale of Stardust Crusaders, when Kenshiro popped some mook's head like a cherry. Then I started thinking about nosebleeds, followed by asteroids, followed by Punchline. So let's review this then; in my mind it's been awhile (precisely 544 days) since the last review that could be summarized by a single 'OMG GUYSH GO WAHTCH THIS ANIME! !!! !! !111!111 ! AMAZING IT"S SO GOOOOOOOD!'.

Punchline is one of those anime that sounds rough on paper. A comedy, ecchi series about a boy who lives in a building with a bunch of girls, all of whom have some quirk. The guy gets a nosebleed at the sight of panties and an asteroid ends all life on Earth shortly afterwards...wait, what? Oh and he's also a ghost, courtesy of a bus-hijacking crash, and is on a mission to retrieve an ancient Indian text called the Nandala Gandala that will allow him to get back to his body which time-traveling spirit has possessed. 


So after the first episode I was like 'Okay. So it's going to be one of ridiculous oh, Japan-sort-of-anime-with-fanservice-as-an-added-bonus. Been there, done that. But I love them sorts of anime, so here's to Punchline!' Yet the further I got, the more I realized: I Absolutely love this show. Every episode had something to further this crazy jigsaw of a plot, and  the characters began to grow from Invaders of the First Dimension, to rounded three dimensional characters to whom I had gotten extremely attached. The stakes of this anime are literally world-class, but I found myself more preoccupied with Uchikoshi  butchering the main cast than I did most of humanity.

The plot itself is in need of some kind of award from the E.L. Doctorow Society. Imagine someone shredded your laundry and then proceeded to knit an outfit straight out of Vogue; I'd be slightly exaggerating if I said that Punchline's plot is as impressive, but I'll be damned if it doesn't come close. Much like the characters, the plot grows more complex with every episode as so many seemingly unrelated threads interweave to make a completely cohesive narrative all leading up to a finale that was as satisfying as it was bizarre.

It's got quite the cast too. Armin, Asseylum, Asuna, Tsumugi, and the queen of tsundere herself, lend their talents to bring the residents of Korai House to life. Add to this the talent of Mappa (whom are quickly ascending my totem pole of studios, what with this, Shingeki no Bahamut and Zankyou no Terror) and a composition by Tetsuya Komuro (Vampire Hunter D) and you have yourself quite the contender for anime of the season (shutupkekaisensen).

It's not perfect, sure. Any number of plot-holes are present in a given episode, it's quite possible I'm being a tad hyperbolic when I call the character fully three dimensional (though I maintain they're at least 2.75 D) and the jury's still out on whether the fanservice is entirely necessary. In truth though I found these to be so much white noise in the face of such great story, characters, soundtrack, animation and stupidity. 

Thanks for reading! Here's where I'd normally ask you to like, favorite, etc. Instead I'll beg you to follow this link to the nirvana that is World Conquest Zvezda Plot. Also watch punchline. Goodnight.

*note* 
If you're wondering where the thing on Fractale went, then know that I've come to realize it was garbage. Basically a couple page rant—not funny, not useful.

Is Shinmai Maou no Testament Worth Watching?

If I had a central tenet that radiates throughout my life as a floodlight would to a wayward invasion fleet, it would be that there is always at least one harem anime worth watching each season. Watching all the harem anime that come out in a given season isn't for everyone. It's a life filled with Freezings, Maken-kis and School Days, but without it one mightn't experience the D-Frags, Outbreak Companies, and No Game No Lives. Sure one could just wait for the season to finish and look up reviews and the like, but it's the journey through the toxic wastes that makes the discovery of something like Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo so much more satisfying. So in some ways you could say I might admire Shinmai Maou no Testament to an extent...except that you can't. 

No pandering

So let's start with what the anime does right—it's first episode. By the end of the first episode I was intrigued. It was a great piece of exposition: I wanted to know more about Basara's banishment from the village of heroes, I wanted to know more about how the politics of the demon underworld worked and I was interested in how it was going to deal with morality with a sucubus and demon lord as the protagonists. It was a good bait-and-switch episode that played with my expectations and made me want to watch more. So I did. Then Basara and his new sister formed a pact that placed Master-Slave relationship on the two of them which causes the latter to fall under a 'aphrodisiac curse' if they disobey. It's like going into a rundown fifties diner, expecting a greasy burger cobbled together from a myriad of mystery meats only to be greeted by a wafting smell worthy of a five-star restaurant accompanied by the satisfying snap of hot oil. Then you're served the dish and, not only it not the gourmet burger you thought you smelt, it's slathered with engine oil and hard enough to fool an archeologist into thinking it a fossil.

See, I could include more screenshots of this anime or I could tell you about better Harem anime...this is D-Frag—watch it.

At this point my motivation for pushing through this show was making this review and a slight case of masochism. The next few episodes stomped on and cremated my hopes for an interesting take on morality (as far fetched as they were), as we are introduced the hero clan—who wants to kill Basara's new sister for her being the heir to the position of lord of all demons. Instead of, I don't know, making a case for the lesser of two evils (where the lesser is exponentially less evil than the greater) Basara and company make some weak-sauce argument that one would expect to find on the site of the Flat Earth Society and leads to another battle. The good guys win and Basara gets to keep his childhood-friend-turned-harem-member who wants to enter the Master-Slave relationship—because of course she does.

It's not a harem, but it is fantastic. It's called World Conquest Zvezda Plot, it has a name in Japanese and you should watch it.

Perhaps you might be thinking 'This sounds stupidly fun! Let's crack open a couple cans and have a laugh!'. There's a miniscule chance I might've done so myself if not for the whole attempted rape arch. See, the attempted rape trope is something I could have hung from the gallows tomorrow and not lose a wink of sleep over. See in and of itself I have no problem with attempted rape...wow that came out wrong. *Ahem* As a plot device, I have no problem with attempted rape. Theoretically it can be implemented well and develop character, provide valuable commentary, etc. Yet tell me—how often does that actually happen? With how often I see it popping up, I'd argue too much. Too often it's used as a throwaway gimmick to establish a quick 'knight in shining armor' moment for the protagonist, get the audience behind hating a particular villain without doing any work, or as a way to pander to a demographic they really shouldn't be pandering to in the first place. 

Testament manages to do all three! There's gotta be an award for that, let me see...

In summary, Shinmai Maou no Testament is not worth watching. It stops one step short of being used in the Ludovico Technique. 

Thanks for reading. If you liked this anime, congratulations on making it this far or scrolling down the page. It's getting another season this fall—for worse—so there's that. I'd love it if you would favorite, share or follow me.

Afterword:
So I found this channel called douchebagchoclat, which is a channel which does a segment called 'Should You Watch', so I'm going to change what I'm doing to 'Is X worth watching'. Not that I think it's going to matter (I mean seriously, this blog gets about 100 views a week—tops), but better safe than sorry.

Petition the U.N. to ban anime in the world.

Please read this...it made my day. Actually please sign it too. I really want to see the look on the members of the United Nations faces when they go from talking about disaster relief, atomic energy, and violations of basic human rights, to arguing over whether or not Monogatari is going to turn you into a pedophile.

Enact an International Ban on Anime and Manga

https://www.change.org/p/the-united-nations-enact-an-international-ban-on-anime-and-manga

Sorry for the link not working 

Thoughts on the ending of Aldnoah Zero

I may or may not do a full review on this, but I'd like to address a few things about the ending. I've seen a lot of people trashing this ending, saying that it ruined the show. Honestly I can see why. The climax was low stakes, no-one freaking died (spoilers), and most importantly Asseylum not only didn't chose Inaho as her flagship, but married a guy introduced a literal two episodes prior. I agree that from a viewer's perspective it wasn't the climax I was hoping for, but I think that it made sense in terms of where the story was going. The moment Asseylum made her speech Slaine knew he had lost control over the orbital knights. Even if he managed to survive the battle his forces would be weakened so severely, he would never be able to maintain this 'new empire'. At this point his dream would do more harm than good. So he wants to die. Where's the best place to die—on the battlefield. That's what the stakes were to me—akin to wanting to go out with a bang. I think it's an interesting way to end the series, on an anti-climax rather than a grand finale. As for the whole no-one died, yeah not going to argue with anyone there. While not realistic, perhaps, I didn't mind it so much. It would have been equally as unrealistic to have everyone lose all plot armor at the end. For me, it's a problem the series as a whole had, not a problem relegated to the ending. 

I'm going to dedicate a whole paragraph to this one because I think this is the one most people have a problem with. First off let's address Asseylum's decision to marry whatisface. I strongly disagree that this move makes the show bad. In fact I would argue that Asseylum's choice is a step in the right direction. Here's why: Throughout the majority of the series I felt that princess Asseylum was just that—a princess. She was always in need of rescue, and felt like that sort of peace loving Marina Ismail we've all seen before. I never really cared about her honestly (maybe this is why I don't care so much about the shipping falling through). This decision changed my view of her as a side character/ plot device into an integral part of the show. Her decision to marry to someone she doesn't love in order to maintain her ideals shows the strength of her conviction. She really transformed from a princess into an empress; from a tool used by other to someone who takes control of their own destiny.

I think it's important to distinguish a bad ending from a non-ideal ending. The ideal ending would've had Slaine sticking to his guns the entire time, with Asseylum riding out with Inaho to try to talk some sense into him while the orbital knights destroyed the Earth. Slaine would've realized he was wrong just before the killing blow, but it would be too late. Without a leader, the orbital knights would have stopped fighting, Inaho and Asseylum would've gotten married, happy ever after. While a much more satisfying ending for many, I would argue that an ending similar to the one I've described wouldn't be better than the one we got (not worse necessarily, but not better)

Whatever the case, I think that the ending made more of an impact on me than it would have otherwise. While I can't say I was left satisfied (ultimately I would have preferred above ending because I'm a sappy-mc-sap-sap who loves endings sweet enough to cause instant diabetes) I can say that it was an ending that fit the profile of Gen Urobuchi. 

On the off off off chance that you're reading this, Gen, if you do the same thing to a series I really care about *cough* Psycho-Pass *cough* I'll cry...really hard...so don't do that. 

Side note—anyone else think the reason why Inaho is like the Mr Universe of anime is because he's autistic? 

Thanks for reading! If you liked this, please share, like, or/and follow! Hope to see you again!

Gundam Seed Destiny and The Military Industrial Complex

Saying something like 'I actually kind of liked Gundam Seed Destiny' in the Gundam community is kind of akin to sieg heiling while simultaneously drinking orphan's tears from a cup made from the polished bones of one-month-old puppies, or alternatively claiming the U.C. continuity is overrated. I sort of feel like this anime gets a bit more of a bad rap than it deserves. Destiny is not a great series, in fact I'd be willing to concede that it's not even a good series, but with the amount of flak I've seen it getting, you'd think that this has a whiny self-righteous teenage edgy mcmopes-a-lot as a secondary protagonist and a main protagonist who would've ascended into the skies to become our lord  and savoir, but failed because the nails couldn't pierce his plot armor*.  Seriously— the series boasts more flashbacks than Memento, recycles animations like I joke about Call of Duty, and simultaneously boasts one of the best and worst villains I've seen in anime...and they're the same person... With that said—the recycled clips themselves are well-animated, it has a fantastic soundtrack, and has valuable commentary on one of the roots of war.

Are you on the edge of your seats? Don't be. Expect this to be drier than an evaporated glass of Merlot. Oh, and you've had a decade to watch this, so no complaining about spoilers. To give you a bit of of shallow context—the military industrial complex refers to the arms industry. They supply a country with everything from tanks to jets, to battleships. Basically they make weapons of war. So what happens when there is no war? Demand on their products decreases. What creates demand? You've got one guess. The influence of the military industrial complex on politics and war is well documented. Eisenhower himself warned the public of the dangers that the military industrial complex could potentially have on the course of American history in his final speech as president. To boil it down to the basics:

1. The Primary goal of any corporation in a free market based economy is to turn a profit 
2. The military industrial complex does make money as countries update their military and buy the latest technology, but not nearly as much as when a country is at war and a constant stream of weapons is needed to fight.
3. Using lobbyists, corporations fund politicians in order to allow them to be elected to various positions in the government. Thus, corporations have a degree of influence on the decisions a politician makes. Pass that bill limiting the funding of the military and in a couple years you might find yourself facing an opponent with much better funds and, coincidentally, a bit more sympathy toward the repeal of said bill.
4. This factors in to a politicians decisions in deciding whether or not to go to war. It's not that this is the deciding factor of war. The influence of the military industrial complex has on war is making it more likely that the politician will go to war than if the MIC wasn't involved. 

Destiny presents a future where the MIC is the primary influence on whether or not a country (or in this case a planet) will go to war. Hidden inside the radical anti-coordinator (term for genetically engineered people who live in Space Colonies) group Blue Cosmos, an inner circle of various parts of the MIC gather in order to push the possibility of war into the certainty of war. After taking advantage of an opportunity to create a war, Logos finds itself pitted against Chairman Durandal, a man who understands the complexities of the system of war and potential profits made from it. His solution to the issue of profiting off of war is to directly target Logos bases of operation and high ranking officials.

The angst...

You may be asking, justifiably, 'how will this help?' Violence will just lead to more violence, just destroying the MIC won't solve the problem. Exactly—which is why Durandal has to pull the weed out by its roots; anything else will allow it to grow back stronger than ever. Can you guess what's about to happen? I mean you shouldn't. The series has to find some way to make the good guys the good guys and in keeping with its 'there are no right sides in war,' bullshit it decides to make the Chairman's solution be a Brave New World style way of genetically engineering everybody to have one skill and only one skill thus they will never have the ambition or aptitude to pull anything like a war off ever again and uuuuugghhhhh. Here are a few reasons why this would suck;

1. It makes everyone coordinators, means that ZAFT would have to forcibly make everyone a coordinator. Not only might this lead to another war, but also creates more resentment than ever and is the equivalent of what Blue Cosmos was trying to do to coordinators.
2. Obvious moral issues.
3. Power in numbers, you might make someone great at piloting a mobile suit, and other that suck piloting wise, but enough in numbers can overwhelm a really good...actually never-mind—this is Gundam we're talking about. 
4. Probably increases tension between classes more than it would otherwise; makes rebellion more likely.
5. An enforced caste system determined entirely by birth without any room for class movement. 
6. There is a much easier system to implement that would solve the whole MIC problem.

What is that other method? Nationalizing the MIC. Assuming you haven't left in a fit of capitalist outrage, let me explain. What Durandal wants to discourage is the use of war as a way to earn profit. Nationalizing the Military Industrial Complex means that it is no longer profiting from war. No-one is paid to buy arms, therefore the only way to profit from war is to fight a war where winning the war would yield enormous economic advantage (Natural resources, eliminating a rival, etc). It's not that nationalizing the MIC would eliminate war altogether, but it does eradicate a factor making war more likely.

Now that it's been remastered...yeah can't think of a joke for this one

So there you go. If you liked this, like it. Sharing is also great, and commenting is even better. I promise I'll make something funnier next time...and maybe before the turn of the century.
 *Actually he just skipped the 'lord and savior' and became God. 

Should You Watch C for Control (The Anime With Give Or Take a Million Names)

C the Money of Soul and Possibility of Control, aside from having rhymetastic name, really left me in an odd situation. On the one hand it's probably one of, if not the most interesting premises I've seen out of the shounen genre. Basically there exists a dimension parallel to our own called the financial district. Here people called Entres wager their future as collateral to gamble for wealth beyond their wildest dreams. Enter Kimiyaro Yoga, a college student working his way to a degree in economics, and not, as his name might imply, a spiritual discipline practiced for health and relaxation. After being approached by what looks like the estranged child of Johnny Depp and Willy Wonka, Yoga is thrust into a world were his very future is put at risk. If that wasn't enough it's got a killer soundtrack by Taku Iwasawa, of Gurren Lagann fame, a stunning world design, a great opening and ending, as well as some good character design. So why aren't I screaming words of praise at my laptop while windmilling my arms erratically? Well, whose to say I'm not? The voice in my head, of course.

What surprised me most about the anime was just how much I loved the world. It isn't like I'd vacation there or anything, but the fact that whenever I was dragged from the financial district back into the real world I would be doing so kicking and screaming, is telling. The art style of this place alone sold me, and return visits boasted some of the more interesting creature designs I've seen since Evangelion. The fight scenes, carry the same dream-like quality, and are a treat for the eyes with no exception. Of course that carries two heavy caveats; a metric ton of CG and the fight scenes themselves occurring with frequency of a blue moon on the day the planets aline. Personally I found the CG, while not a good as Gatchaman (another of the studio's productions), to be pretty harmless—never taking away from the visual spectacle. Be warned this anime is a lot of talking, and while there's enough to distract yourself with in the surreal Financial District, the same cannot be said about the real world. 

The CGIIIIII

While the premise is the coolest thing next to a clever analogy related to Spike Spiegel, the plotline itself made as much sense as...the premise, I guess. This really comes down to exposition. I'm seventeen and though I am the son of an economist, I'm not going to pretend like I know how the global or Japanese economic system works. Let me just say that either the anime pulls an Eva at the end or... no there's no 'or'. While the anime had been mostly a well done character study/ action show, the last three or so episodes throw everything and the kitchen sink at you. We get an 'I am your father', space-time technobable that only makes sense until you think about it, and, if I cared about the main character, a really unsatisfying ending. If someone wants to fill me in on this, drop a comment or something. I am genuinely curious!

 The summary of the character section is practically identical to a harem anime. Seriously, what is the purpose of the male character in a harem anime? To introduce us to a set of much more interesting characters (and subconsciously or consciously project ourselves onto that lucky bastard) and show a side of them that wouldn't be seen if it were a k-on clone. Yoga is nothing if not a doorway into the exotic realm of the financial distract. He also acts as a way of introducing us to characters who are infinitely more interesting than our main. Speaking of which, the side characters are really goddamn interesting. None of them feel phoned in, even the creep in the first episode—a character who has about a minute of lines—has enough characterization to make me feel something for him. The villain in particular makes for a very interesting breakdown of what one might mistake as the money grubbing CEO. What really surprised me was a certain character who forces the main character to come to realizations about how his actions have consequences. I won't say more because then I'd be delving into the depths of spoilers, but it was by far my favorite part of this series.

The image speaks for itself—which is why I'm writing this...

Finally we come to sound, which is the other part of the series I have no qualms calling fantastic. The soundtrack combined with the animation never failed to leave me at an emotional high after any fight scene, and made up for some of the slower moments. The opening is by NICO Touches The Walls, who are quickly becoming a favorite of mine, and showcases a really cool animation sequence. The anime is right up there with Eden of the East in terms of endings, which coincidentally has the same band behind it, School Food Punishment. Oh and the voice acting's good.

Would I recommend it? I'll answer with a definitive maybe. C is an anime I enjoyed. I enjoyed it because of its world building techniques, the off-the-wall aesthetic, interesting side characters, soundtrack and some of the plot. The ending screws things up, but not, for me at least, enough to ruin the experience.  

Thanks for reading! A like, follow, spreading the word or anything of the sort is always appreciated!

Should you watch Gatchaman Crowds?

Forty years after its original airing, the guys over at Tatsunoko Productions blessed us with Gatchaman Crowds, a remake about as faithful to the original as Dragon Ball Evolution. Although while DBE was like having a conversation with a serial killer wearing your best friend's skin, Crowds basically jettisons any connection to the original from the gate. 

The story follows Hajime Ichinose a girl who's hyperactivity is matched only by a seven-year-old with coffee instead of blood. While screwing around on the roof, Hajime encounters something (started this anime two years ago) that gives her a notebook called NOTE that gives her the power to transform into

Together she teams up with a guy with what looks like wedges of cheese for eyebrows, a bikini clad girl because of course, a too cool for school dude, a fabulous gay guy, and a talking panda to fight an androgynous alien with the apparent mindset of the aforementioned seven-year-old with coffee instead of blood. One character left out of the previous summary is Rui the cross dresser, a genius Zuckerburg who created the social networking system Galax a cross between [insert social networking site], animal crossing, and Uber.

The first you'll notice coming into the anime is its animation. Anyone read any of my other stuff, because you should be able to guess what's coming next. The animation looks fantastic (other acceptable answers include amazing, great, and hand-drawn orgasm). In all honesty it looks jaw dropping when it wants to and is enjoyable at the very least the rest of the time. Even the troughs are bursting with color and personality. The peaks, on the other hand, burst with color, personality, and CG. Yes our old friend CG is back in full force. Unlike Mekaku, however, it's implemented well. Special mention goes to whoever designed the Gatchamen themselves.

The second thing you might notice is the soundtrack. Composed by Taku Iwasaki  of Jojo, Soul Eater and Black Butler fame, the soundtrack is a mix of electronic and spoken vocals. Ultimately it's down to personal preference, but take a listen— I think that you'll like what you hear.

Again we're talking what could be charitably called a quirky cast here, so frankly I thought I was in for another dumb action filled romp. I am so glad I was wrong. 

It's easy to think of Crowds as a simple aliens vs humans anime that has been done to death, brought back to life as a horrible monster before collapsing into a pile of unidentifiable scraps. What I think saves it from being the above is everything about GALAX. It plays out like a mind-game. Rui initially thinks that he's using the Alien as a means to create the ideal world. In the end we learn that he couldn't be further from the truth. GALAX is the crux; the key to victory for both parties. This makes for a climax that hits all the right places; with enough action to keep the testosterone pounding at my head, but with enough intelligent tactics that it didn't feel like my higher conscience was on vacation. If I had to level a criticism at it, it would be the pacing. The first fiveish episodes are dedicated to developing characters and getting the exposition done. While I was ultimately glad for it, it was a little grueling to get through at first. I'm not going to act like I know how to fix that, so perhaps this is more a warning than anything.

Something to tide you over until the next image

If you asked me to give you one reason to watch this anime, I would wake up because no-one comments on these posts anyway. However in theory I would tell you that if there was one thing that the anime did right, it's the character. Here however it's a bit more subjective (because the rest of it was devoid of opinion). It all comes down to the main character. Basically she's an eccentric, charismatic, block-headed insane girl. In other words she's what would normally be considered a side character in another anime. It's like if The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya centered on the titular character instead of Kyon. The question becomes can you stand that? 

Even if that doesn't sound like a smashing good time, I'd still say you should give it a shot. Aside from the above, I'd say that the rest of the cast does its job very well. Most of the development in these characters here are given development not really seen in many other shows. While I wouldn't call the development they get in depth I will say that for 13 episodes, and such a large cast, I got a very clear sense of who they were and why they were doing what they did. There are a few reasons for this, methinks. First is the exposition, spending time with the characters and watching them interact with Hajime. The other is an entire half an episode is spent giving insight into the ways in which they have changed over the course of the series. 

Of course I can't finish this review without mentioning the villain...but I'm going to anyway. 

Should you watch Gatchaman Crowds? Yes. I would say so. The animation suits the anime well, giving it some personality. An interesting vision of the future helps give separate it from similar anime, and the main character and her supporting cast make this a fun little romp. 

Thanks for reading! Likes, follows, and spreading the word are all things that would make me pretty happy. Wishing you a late happy New Year!